Improvement in rotary engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN ROTARY ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,389, dated October 161860.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, KENYoN Cox and TnEononE COX, both of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary Engines and Rotary Pumps 5 and we do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a section of an engine or pump complete, the plane of section being perpendicular to the axes of the stationary outer cylinder and rotating inner drum. Fig. 2 is a section of the same taken centrally and parallel with the axes of the cylinder and drum. v Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section of the outer cylinder, taken in the planes indicated by the line x x in Fig. l.. Fig. 4 is an end View of the rotating drum and its appendages, omitting the face-plates on the end which is presented toward the spectator. Fig. 5 is a top View of the rotating drum and its appendages. Fig. 6 is aside view of the packing-piece which is fitted to the outer cylinder to form a bearing for the periphery of the rotating drum. Fig. 7 is an outside face view of one of the arcformed faceplates.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to that description of rotary engine having sliding pistons, rotating with an inner cylinder or drum arranged eccentrically within a larger stationary cylinder; and it consists, principally, in a certain construction of the sliding piston and mode of applying the same, in connection with arcformed revolving guide-plates arranged between the heads of the inner drum and outer cylinder, whereby the pistons are caused to present themselves with their outer faces concentric with the inner periphery of the outer cylinder, and in proper contact with said periphery throughout the whole of their revolution, and the escape of steam, water, or other iiuid between the pistons and the outer cylinder, and between the said cylinder and the rotating drum, is very effectually prevented without any necessity for stuffing-boxes around the shaft.

lt also consists in a certain construction of the ports in the outer cylinder, whereby, aft-er the pistons in their revolution have passed that portion of the inner periphery of the outer cylinder withwhicli the rotating drum comes in contact, the steam, water, or other fiuid is received into the cylinder, both in front and behind them, until they arrive at a position where the steam or other iiuid, in the case of an engine used as a motor, may act upon them, or the water, in the case of a pump, may be acted upon by them with good effect, and a free eduction is provided for.

It further consists in a certain construction of an adjustable packing-piece, which is tted to the inner periphery of the outer` cylinder, to constitute a bearing for the outer periphery of the rotating drum, whereby provision is made for adjusting the said piece toward the axis of the rotating drum without any danger of the pistons catching against the solid piece in their revolution, and so injuring or being injured by it.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation. I

A is the stationery outer cylinder, bored truly and fitted at each end with a tight head, B.

D is the rotating drum, turned truly and secured to a concentric shaft, S, which works in bearings in the cylinder-heads B B, the position of the said bearings being eccentric to the main cylinder, that the periphery of the rotating drum may work in contact with the packing-piece C, which is itted to an opening in the cylinder A, the said packing-piece having its face, with which the drum D works in contact, made concave to iit the said drum, and being otherwise constructed, as hereinafter described. The cylinder-heads B B are each furnished internally with a projecting circular boss, b, which is concentric with the cylinder A, and the inner face of which is hat and perpendicular to the axes of the cylinder A and drum D. The rotating drum D tits snugly between the faces of these bosses, whose diameter is such that the inner cylinder just covers them at the point farthest from where the said cylinder fits to the packingpiece, and the ends of the drum are grooved to receive packingpieces d d, as shown in Fig. 4.

G H G H are pistons, two in number, each composed of two principal pieces, G- and H, as will be presently more fully explained.

F F F F are the arc-formed guide-plates, four in number, two fitted into each of the annular recesses Z Z between the bosses b b and the inner periphery of the outer cylinder, andmade of a thickness equal to the depth of the said recesses, and each of the said plates, at one end ofthe cylinder, being rigidly connected with one of the said plates at the other end by the outer portion, G, of one of the two pistons, the said portions G G of the pistons being dovetailed into the said plates, as shown in Figr7. These portions G of the pistons have their outer faces fitted to the inner periphery of the outer cylinder, A, and furnished with packing-strips c c, of soft metal or other material, to make them steam or water tight. The portions H H of the two pistons are fitted to slide in radial grooves m m, provided for them in the drum D, and are of a width to fit between the bosses b b of the cylinder A, and consequently between the inner faces of the guide-plates F F on each side, and have their side edges tted with packing-strips e e-to keep them steamtight between said bosses and plates; and the said portions H H are each connected with the pair of guide-plates F F, to which its respective portion G is connected by means of two pivots, i z', formed upon its outer corners and fitting to holes provided for them in the said guide-plates, and the outer edgesof the said portions H H are rounded off concentrically to the said pivots, as shown in Fig. 1, to t to concave recesses provided for them all along the inner sides of the portions G G and H H. The drum D is made in two pieces, which are bolted together by bolts h h, as shown in Fig. l, for convenience of facing the interiors of the grooves m m, which may be fitted with packingstrips to keep the sides of the parts H H of the pistons tight within them as the latter slide in and out of the said grooves in their revolution with the cylinder.

The above-mentioned sliding movement of 4the pistons, by which they are kept in contact with the inner peripherical surface of the cylinder A, is produced by the revolution of the guide-plates F F in the annular recesses Z Z. Ilhese guide-plates, in their revolution with the drum D and pistons, are caused to revolve at a variable speed, owing to the eccentricity of the cylinder A and drum D, and hence those at the same end of the cylinder approach and recede from each other, and for this reason they cannot be of complete circular form to fill up the whole circumferences of the recessesZ Z, but they are made as near semicircular as the above mentioned approaching and receding movement will permit, so that their ends mav meet as they pass the middle of the packingpiece C, and thus leave no opening at any time for the passage of steam between the cylinderheads B B and piston-drum D. Owing to the guide-plates being always concentric with the c linder A, the whole width of the outer faces or edges of the parts G of the pistons will always bear against the peripherical surface of the cylinder, andprescnt a true packed surface to the cylinder in every position, notwithstanding that the main portions G G ofthe pistons are radial to the drum D, which is eccentric to the cylinder.

The drum D must have its ends tightly closed; but to provide for the insertion and screwing up of the bolts h h one end of the said drum is fitted with movable panels g g, as shown in-Flg. 4, and the said panels are iitted perfectly steam or water tight into their places. Vl and J are two pipes communicating with the cylinder on opposite-sidesof the packingpiece C, either of such pipes being the induction and the other the eduction pipe, according to the direction in which the drum and pistons are desired to rotate. By making a proper system of connections between these pipes, and employing a suitable reversingvalve, either pipe may at pleasure be made the induction-pipe and the other the eductionpipe. Attheinner orifices of these pipes there are provided in the cylinder elongated narrow cavities or ports a a, commencingnear the packing-piece C and extending to such points at Vequal distances from the packing pieces that their upper endsV will just come within a line drawn diametrically through the axes of the drum. These elongated ports a a admit steam or water on both sides of the pistons, after they have passed the packing-piece or abutment O on the induction side thereof, until the faces which are in the front have entirely passed the upper ends of the said ports, b y which time the opposite piston has arrived at the commencement of the opposite or eduction port, after which the induction takes place on the back side only.

It will thus be seen that each piston is only operative during that half of its revolution in which it presents the greatest surface be\\ tween the drum and cylinder, and that each is prevented interfering with the one which precedes it in itsrrevolution, while the latter presents a larger area of surface between the drum and cylinder. The elongated ports a a also provide for the eduction of the steam, water,

or other-fluid from before the pistons till they arrive at the packing-piece C. 4

. The construction of the packing-piece C, by

which the pistons are prevented injuring or being injured by the said piece in striking it during their revolution, is illustrated in Figs. 1, 3, and 6.- The said packing-piece is made with a flange, n n, for the reception of the setscrews p p, by which it is adjusted in proper contact with the drum D. Its main body tt is made with a series of square projections, q g, on each side of it, which are fitted accurately to corresponding recesses formed in the sides of the opening that is provided in the cylinder for its reception. The inner or upper face of the said piece, which projects slightly into the cylinder,- is made of a concave form, to fit the drum D, but the corresponding faces of the projections q q are beveled, the bevel terminating outside of the main bodyt tof the piece, as shown at 1010 in Figs. l and 3, so that it will be impossible for the pistons to catch against the sharp edges of the body tt between the projections q q, as they will first meet the edges l0 l0 of the bevels, and so be conducted easily over the edges of the body.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The jointed pistons G H Gf H and arcformed guide-plates F F, constructed and combined and applied in connection with the stationary cylinder A and rotatingdrum D, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

2. The ports a a, elongated in the manner and for the purpose herein described.

3. The construction of the packingpieee C, with beveled projections tted to the cylinder, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.4

KENYON COX. THEO. COX.

Witnesses:

M. M. LIVINGsToN, L. W. BENDRE. 

